1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotating mechanism attachable to the bottom of a container. More specifically, it relates to a simple rotating mechanism suitable for attaching to, for example, the bottom of a middle-sized beer container with a handle, thereby readily rotating the container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, beer, especially draft beer, has been widely marketed in various middle-sized containers or bottles having, for example, a 2 to 3 liter capacity. At first, these containers were designed so that beer was poured into a jug or glass by holding the containers with both hands. In a step further, a handle was attached to the container to facilitate the pouring. However, this type of the container still causes inconvenience when the handle is facing away from a person attempting to grasp the handle. That is, to grasp the handle the container must first be rotated, i.e., placed in a proper position, with both hands, or the side of the container must be pushed into position with one hand; causing no little inconvenience to the person wishing to pour beer from the container.
It is known that containers with a handle such as Thermos type vacuum bottles, can be rotated. Thermos type bottles have a structure such that a rotating mechanism is freely and rotatably attached to the bottom of the body of the Thermos type bottle. Thermos type bottles are designed so that the rotating mechanisms are tough and will rotate smoothly for a long period, since these type bottles must have a long lifetime. For this reason, special rotating mechanisms produced at a reasonable cost are acceptable for use with thermos type bottles.
Contrary to the above, however, rotating mechanisms to be attached to, for example, middle-sized beer containers, should be less expensive to produce, since the containers are not expected to be in use for a long time. Thus, known rotating mechanisms used, for example, at the bottom of Thermos type bottles cannot be used for the middle-sized beer containers, although the performance of those rotating mechanisms has many of the desired advantages. That is, when those rotating mechanisms are applied to the middle-sized beer containers, disadvantages arise in that the manufacture of the rotating mechanism and the attachment thereof to the bottom of the body of the beer containers would be troublesome and costly. Accordingly, there is a demand for the development of a container provided with a handle capable of being rotated by a rotating mechanism which has a simple structure and can be readily manufactured at a low cost.
Under the above-mentioned circumstances, the present inventors devised several rotating devices capable of smoothly rotating containers for a short period when fitted to the bottom of those containers, and also capable of being readily manufactured and attached at a relatively low cost. These rotating devices are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 58-43066 and Japanese Utility Model Application Nos. 58-37509, 58-49619, and 58-49620.
However, although these rotating devices all utilize a rotating table, which is fitted to the bottom member of the plastic beer container, they are still unsatisfactory from the viewpoint of production costs. Accordingly, the inventors devised further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 58-143579 and 58-149037, a beer container comprising a film-like disc attached to the lower end of the plastic container to be freely and rotatably in contact with the bottom of the plastic container.
However, there still remains a problem in that the bottom of these plastic containers must be modified by, for example, forming center projections, or fitting grooves.